Rooney to Leave '60 Minutes'

By

Lauren A. E. Schuker

September 28, 2011

"60 Minutes" will lose one of its icons Sunday.

After appearing on more than 1,000 broadcasts of the weekly news show,
Andy Rooney
is stepping down from his regular role on CBS's "60 Minutes," the network said. His last show as a regular contributor is Sunday.

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Mr. Rooney, 92, will tell viewers in his "essay" segment that runs at the end of the program. Sunday's show will also include a piece chronicling Mr. Rooney's career through an interview with
Morley Safer.

"There's nobody like Andy and there never will be. He'll hate hearing this, but he's an American original,"
Jeff Fager,
chairman of
CBS
News and executive producer of "60 Minutes," said in a statement Tuesday. "His contributions to '60 Minutes' are immeasurable; he's also a great friend," he added.

Mr. Rooney, who has been a regular on the show since 1978, probably won't be replaced. CBS says he may return to make appearances from time to time.

"It's harder for him to do it every week, but he will always have the ability to speak his mind on '60 Minutes' when the urge hits him," Mr. Fager said.

Mr. Rooney in New York office in 1978, when he became a regular.
Associated Press

Mr. Rooney's appearances on "60 Minutes" date back to its beginnings in 1968.

During its first season, he appeared a few times in a segment called "Ipso and Facto," which was toyed with as a conclusion to the program. He left briefly for a few years in the early 1970s, but then returned.

His first essay for the show was about the reporting of car fatalities that aired over Fourth of July weekend in 1978. That fall, he began as a regular on the show, alternating anchoring the concluding segment with two other hosts,
James J. Kilpatrick
and
Shana Alexander.
In the fall of 1979, he got the concluding slot to himself.

Mr. Rooney first joined CBS more than 60 years ago as a writer for "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts."

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